What Travel Writers Say

El Paso, Texas - lies in far West Texas on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), across the border from Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The two cities, along with Las Cruces, form a combined international metropolitan area, sometimes referred as the Paso del Norte or El Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces, with over 2.7 million people. The El Paso-Juárez region is the largest bilingual, binational work force in the Western Hemisphere. Visit the El Paso Museum of Art and see American works from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as Mexican colonial art and retablos from the 1700s and 1800s. Restaurants serve authentic Mexican cuisine, Texas barbecue or a little of both. While this fusion of cultures draws some, the rock climbers who descend on El Paso have only one thing in mind: scaling the massive boulders of Hueco Tanks State Park. Those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground can wander through the park's interpretive centre and see ancient Indian pictographs. Other popular El Paso pastimes include golf, mountain biking and our personal favourite, looking at the stars.
In 1659, Fray Garcia de San Francisco, established
Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission of El Paso del Norte. Around this mission, the village of El Paso del Norte grew into what is now the El Paso-Juárez region. El Paso has been ranked the safest large city in the U.S. for four consecutive years and ranked in the top three since 1997. The city is the headquarters of one Fortune 500 and three publicly traded companies, as well as home to the Medical Center of the Americas, the only medical research and care provider complex in West Texas and southern New Mexico. El Paso's primary house of higher learning,
University of Texas at El Paso, was rated the 7th best university in Washington Monthly's 2013 National Universities Rankings. The city hosts the annual Sun Bowl, the second oldest bowl game in the country.
El Paso has a strong federal and military presence.
William Beaumont Army Medical Center,
Biggs Army Airfield and
Fort Bliss call the city home. Fort Bliss is one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army and the largest training area in the United States.